Indiana GOP platform shows a party wrestling with social issues

The crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington on June 26, 2015, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States.

The crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington on June 26, 2015, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the United States. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP)

A recent Indiana Republican Party vote to reaffirm language defining marriage as a union “between a man and a woman” wasn’t universally accepted by all of the Republicans at the state convention in Indianapolis, and certainly isn’t being accepted by those outside that circle.

In June 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that same-sex marriage was legal in all 50 states, but the issue remains for some.

Local party chairs from Porter and Lake counties said they would have preferred a proposed language change that was more inclusive and recognized “all loving adults” raising children.

Such a platform is less problematic at a state level than it would be at a national one, said Indiana University Northwest Professor Marie Eisenstein.

“There’s just not a lot of people paying attention to the day-to-day news,” she said, adding that at the state level, many Republicans are likely agree with the stance. “It’s more critical on a national level. It attracts more attention.”

A number of the Republicans in the Porter County delegation wanted the switch, said Michael Simpson, chair of the party there, adding that strong families and family values are “a huge part of the Republican platform.”

“We need to show people that we are a more inclusive and dynamic group and they are included, and they are in Porter County, in our corner of the world that I control,” Simpson said.

Simpson knows an array of people who are heading households and running strong families that might not fit into the constraints of family life as defined by the state party.

He has a broader view, he said, and that’s the one he prefers.

“We’re certainly going to be part of the state party and support our team,” Simpson said, adding the state platform is not the way things will be run in Porter County, though. “We have a different perspective and a more open attitude.”

Lake County Republican Party Central Committee Chairman Dan Dernulc took a different approach, though he preferred the proposed language change.

“I’m going to support what the platform is,” he said, adding the county party is going to support what the state group decides. “I was in favor of the change; however, majority rules.”

Outside of the ballot box, Eisenstein said that there are critical social issues, including same-sex marriage, that the nation is grappling with, which include figuring out “how do we extend political power to people we sincerely disagree with.”

It’s a matter of “live and let live,” she said, and while people don’t have to agree with each other’s opinions or choices, they do have to extend to them the right to enter and exit a viewpoint for civil discourse without name calling.

“We still need to find a way to resolve these moral issues and find a way to talk about it,” Eisenstein said.

The Rev. Michael Cooper, pastor at Metropolitan Community Church Illiana in Portage, said he hasn’t thought too much about it because the state’s Republican Party leans towards being more conservative anyway.

“I didn’t expect it to change. I would have been more surprised if it had,” Cooper said. “I think they’re continuing to disenfranchise the center part of the Republican Party.”

Such decisions aren’t limited to one party, Cooper said, noting that the Portage City Council, which holds a Democratic majority, reduced a human rights ordinance from 22 pages to one page earlier this year.

“It’s one thing to go after the Republicans when they do these stupid things but in reality, it’s on both sides,” he said. “Democrats have their issues as well.”